political shift in the country. one of the important takeaways for liberals in 1968 was that engagement can make a difference. the anniversary of lyndon johnson dropping out of the presidential campaign, and a lot of that was because of the antiwar activists who opposed his nomination. i think she is right. host: the book is called "american maelstrom: the 1968 election and the politics of division." our guest is michael: here in washington and joining us from west palm beach florida is kathleen kennedy townsend, the eldest daughter of senator robert f kennedy. both of you, thank you very much for being with us on c-span and c-span3's american history tv. we appreciate it. announcer: next on the presidency, historian peter lillback talks about his book "george washington's sacred fire." he argues that while many historians consider washington to be a deist or a nominal

christian, he was in fact a devoutly religious person. colorado christian university hosted the program. it is 90 minutes. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2018] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] host: for the last 80 years, the faith of george washington has been the subject of intense debate. was he a believer or an unbeliever, a christian radius -- christian or a deist?why does why does it matter. for over a century after his death, most people took it for granted that he was a practicing christian. a revised view of washington began to take hold in the 1930's. it suggested that washington was an unbeliever or at most a deist. in 2006, this thesis was challenged by several books that came out that year, one by michael novak and jana novak called "washington's god." the other was a thousand page tomb by peter lillback called "george washington's sacred fire" and it became a national bestseller.

washington, you will recall, has been called the father of our country, a man for the ages. some have called him one of the greatest men that any nation has ever brought forth. so it matters a great deal what he stood for and what he believed. what sets dr. lillback's book apart from many literary works on washington was the exhaustive research probing his writings, washington's journals, his letters, manuscripts, sermons that he listened to, and insights of those who knew him best, as well as looking at evidence that no one has ever looked at before. in his book, he reveals the life, the challenges, the leadership, the character, and the faith of george washington. let me tell you a little about dr. lillback. reverend dr. peter lillback is the president of westminster theological seminary in philadelphia. he is also a professor of historical theology and church history at westminster seminary. he serves as the president of the providence form and senior

of an international journal of reform theology and life. he received his phd from westminster theological seminary and his thm from dallas theological seminary. dr. lillback is an ordained minister of the word in the u.s. presbyterian church of america. we are glad that tonight's lecture will be covered by please but would you join me in welcoming dr. peter lillback? [applause] dr. lillback: thank you so very much for this wonderful privilege to be with you all here at colorado christian university. i begin this lecture confessing the fact that i never even had an inkling of an idea when i was doing my seminary studies that i would ever be lecturing on washington, let alone studying his writings. this happened unexpectedly through an embarrassing event in my early ministry that made me say -- maybe i don't know anything about american history.

i determined i would never talk about the subject again until i was sure i knew what i was talking about, because the last thing you want to do when you get up as a teacher is teach something that is not true. in fact, one of the wisest things any teacher can ever say is -- that is a great question. i do not know the answer. i will see if i can find out for you. because that takes humility and it also shows that you prize knowledge and truth. that should be our great goal for this evening. what i want to present to you then is not what i have aspirationally longed for, or it is not something that i want us all to believe in because we all have to stand together for some vision of america that has a great christian past. what i want to do is submit to you the facts, the truths, the evidence that i have uncovered. if you want a deep level, you can go into 1200 pages of work with lots of footnotes. thethe big question or --

big picture question i would like you to consider with me -- as we do this, i want to thank the president, don sweeting for his wonderful invitation, and also professor gary stewart for being a lover of american history as well as the great tradition of the biblical heritage of scholarship in the church of america. i come with great gratitude for these gentlemen who have allowed me to come. the question, then, what was the faith of george washington? we can honestly ask the question -- does it matter? we will see if we can get this working now. here we go, turn it on. there we go. and it is probably the bottom line that is most important. does it matter? i don't want this to be just a historical hour of discussion. i want us to continue the question -- if this is true, what different should it make in the way that we look at the world and the country that we live in? so the basic question that has already been posed in the introduction -- was george washington a deist?

if we are going to ask that question, we need to know what the word means. a deist believes in a god. we might say if there is a big bang, we need a big banger. but if there was a big banger, has he hung around to do anything else? is he an absentee landlord? is he the watchmaker who wound up the universe and disappeared? if there is a god, is he so remote that he has no contact with us, he is uninvolved with this world? that is the essential claim of the deist. in contrast, a theist -- a greek version of the same word. thet is latin, the rest -- ist comes from the greek word. a theist in philosophical terms is someone that believes that god is an actor in the world. he is personally knowable. we can engage with this god and we can hear from him. he hears our prayers. we can actually than as we probe deeper, make a distinction between what i called hard deism and soft deism. as you look at any philosophical

school or theological tradition, there are always nuances. those are important to keep in mind. deism try to define -- if believes that god is remote, essentially uninvolved with the world, there are two schools of thought, both operative in some way in the context of what we are speaking about. hard deism will say there is no providence. what do we mean by providence? that is god's engagement in history. god's controlling, governing, concurring, acting in the events of history. what happened there? ok. soft deism says, wait a second, we will allow room for god. maybe god can show up from time to time. hard deism would say that prayer is useless. if there is no engagement of god with the world, why would he even bother to hear you pray? prayer is useless. on the other hand, a soft deist

will say, god may be doing things from time to time, and maybe he will hear prayers if he chooses to. maybe prayer has a place. the clergy -- a hard to deist will say clergymen are a waste of resources. there is actually a statement allegedly said by voltaire. the kind of world we long for -- is when the last royal sun is strangled on the entrails of the last priest. any budding artist want to paint a picture? pretty gruesome. clergy are useless. a soft deist would say there is even room for clergymen. we can have a place for the church. here is where they come together. deist he is -- a hard will say there can be no word of god. god is not speaking to us because he is not involved. there cannot be revelation in written or spoken form. and guess what, a soft deist

would agree. they would say that god has not spoken to us. the bible, whatever it is, is a mythological collection of ancient stories, but they can never be taken as authoritative or in fact the mind and will of god. say,usly hard deism will there cannot be an incarnate christ, a god who becomes flesh to dwell among us. that is an impossibility. why? because god has nothing to do with this world. because an incarnation would be a fable. a soft deist would take a similar position. they would say, we cannot believe in a divine christ. you can see at two critical points, they are alike. even though they are distinct in other ways. how might we see some individuals representing these two schools? thomas payne, in his early years, a great patriot becomes a hardened deist in the midst of the french revolution. he takes on that radical view.

thomas jefferson, our great american hero, one of the co-writers of the declaration of independence, president, he actually would identify himself in might we might call a soft day is position -- soft deist position. in his day it would because unitarianism. today unitarians might not even fit into the soft deism category. we do not want to lump thomas payne and thomas jefferson together. they are similar but different. the question is, are we going to identify washington in one of these two categories? and is this not the uniform expression that we hear from scholarship, the media, people that are debating things in the political realm -- we will often hear, our founders are deists, they all were deists, they did that have a christian believes, they were unbelievers. we find that in all circles of discussion. that is basically the position that i am choosing to challenge. now, george washington did not

say this. if it doesn't fit, you must acquit. he had absolutely nothing to do with the o.j. simpson trial. [laughter] dr. lillback: but it just so happens that that language is very excellent in our context. you see the handsome hand of george washington reaching out. it has five fingers. the question is, can we put a deist glove on his hand? and if it does not fit, we must acquit him of the charge. so did he believe in providence? guess what? providence is by far his most important theological word. he uses it over 270 times -- i counted them and i did not include providence, rhode island, just so you know. i did not stuff the numbers. this is the word. providential, provident, providence as a name for god. he clearly believed in the

doctrine of providence. in fact, could i just introduce the fact -- did you know that is an official american doctrine? with a firm reliance on the protection of divine providence, we mutually pledge to one another our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor. providence is american, biblical christianity written into our founding document. ok. he could not have believed in prayer, right? again, i have found -- this is hard to take, but it is true -- i have found over 100 prayers in george washington's writings written with his own hand. usually they are not much longer than a sentence. he will say -- i now make it my earnest supplication to the god of the universe that god will bless you. one sentence. prayer. right in his letter. there are over 100. i catalog every one of them for you. so uh-oh. he believes in prayer. written in his own hand.

one of them is a full paragraph long at a most auspicious moment. we will come to that later. what about clergy? george washington did not have time for the clergy, right? i hate to tell you. go through his diaries. did you know that 50 different clergymen stayed at mount vernon that washington recorded in the journals that are accident -- that are extant? we don't even have all of his personal journals. i would ask any of the ministers you know today, have you had 50 ministers stay at your house? most have not come close. washington had 50. on top of that, when you go through his letters, he wrote to letters to them. some of whom he said, i have read your sermon and i agree with the doctrine, it is sound. he actually communicated with ministers. that is another 100 you can catalog. 100 players -- prayers, 100 clergymen in his home or in his letters. the word of god. did he believe in the word of god. we will look at an exact quote

from him in a moment where he actually referred directly to the word of god, and i will try to explain why that is so important. did he believe in a divine christ? i will look at an exact quote from washington where he will speak of the divine author of our blessed religion. i am going to build on those in a moment. here is the foundational question, and to me this is a great apologetic tool that i hope you will take away from this lecture. if you forget everything i have said, do not forget this area here is the question. is there one text in the vast writings of george washington that number at least 37 volumes when they were printed back in the early 1900's where he claims to be a deist? i want you to know i spent 15 to 20 years looking for that and that does not exist. there is not when you say george one. washington was not a deist some

, a pulitzerll you prize winner -- i did not ask what professor so-and-so said -- well, you know the newspaper and the cover of the new york times -- well, what does washington say? doesn't that seem to be the foundational argument we ought to hold? the next time when someone says to you, george washington was a deist, simply stop and say, would you please quote the george washington chapter and verse where he claims to be a deist can you give that to me? guess what, it does not exist. i am going to give you a few examples of where he claims to be a christian. who do you think is the best witness to george washington's faith? a pulitzer prize winner 200 years after washington? or his own letters that come from his personal as well as his public life? i think the answer is patently clear. let us go back to providence. where did george washington

especially demonstrate his interest in providence? july 18, 1755, outside of what was once called fort duquesne and is now called pittsburgh. as they were going down a steep cliff to the monongahela river. he writes back after an extraordinary firefight where the french and indians have killed or wounded every officer in the british brigade, which washington was part of, except for washington. he says, by the all-powerful or dispensations of providence, i have been protected beyond all human probability or expectation. i have had four bullets through my coat and two horses shot from under me and yet i escaped unhurt although death was leveling my companions on either side. this was the letter he wrote to his brother and his mother. he said, providence has spared me. this doctrine was real and vital to him. how about this? this is the prayer i mentioned. now he is the victorious general at the end of the american revolution. this is his most public letter

he will have ever written at this point in his life. it goes to all 13 governors of the newly independent states. he signs every one of them with his majestic signature. and he says, i now make it my earnest prayer that god would have you and the state over which you preside in his holy protection, that he would most graciously be pleased to dispose us all to do justice, to love mercy -- we are hearing echoes tomicah 6:8 here -- and demean ourselves with the charity, humility, and pacific temper of mind which were the characteristics of the divine author of our blessed religion. without an humble imitation of these things, we can never hope to be a happy nation. can i translate that classic english for you? he is saying we need to follow the model of jesus christ as a nation in his specific qualities of humility, of his commitment to peace and love if we are going to succeed.

and he does it in the context of micah 6:8. we must do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with our god. he changes that last one, humbly with our god, to imitating the divine author of our blessed religion. calling the founder of the christian religion divine in this context is giving him the parallel authority with the god of the old testament, quoting micah 6:8. everyone who heard that would have known that in his day. he is affirming the deity of christ. he did it 13 times publicly in his most public letter. it is extraordinary. how about this? the blessed religion revealed in the word of god will remain an eternal and awful monument to prove that the best institutions may be abused by human depravity and that they may even, in some instances, be made subservient to the vilest of purposes.

this letter was being prepared by washington for the very first congress of the united states after he became elected as president. what is significant at this moment is that he speaks of the scriptures as the word of god. i have an image here of jonathan edwards. in one of his classic writings, he says, one of the things we know about deists is that they will never call the scriptures the word of god. for this is what it cannot be for them. god cannot give us his word. by the very fact that washington is doing this, he is declaring -- i am not a deist. i am someone who believes that the word of god is a revelation to humankind. now, there are several things, and we can do these quickly. to general thomas nelson in a private letter, he said, the man who cannot see god's providence at work in this conflict between the british and americans is more than wicked and worse than

an infidel. he is using the king james bible when he uses that phrase -- worse than an infidel. did you know that the word infidel was the exact synonym for deist in his day? isn't that interesting? that a deist would call someone like himself worse than anything? this doesn't fit. to a preacher who critiqued deism, he read a sermon -- he said the doctrine in your sermon is sound. in his farewell address, he recognized that there were unbelievers, and he describes them very gently by the influence of refined education on mines of peculiar structure. he is contrasting them with the religious people of america. did you know that he refused to link up with thomas payne, the great patriot, after he had written "the age of reason." it is an embarrassing story for thomas payne to say that -- to say, washington will not answer my pleas for help. there is no connection. he put up a firewall between

him, because he did not want to be identified with the strongest deist in america. and further, did you know that washington actually was elected to serve on a committee on religion in virginia when he served on the statehouse of burgesses, whose express purpose was to prevent the spread of deism in the schools of virginia? wouldn't that be an awkward place to put someone who was in fact a deist? he is known to be something other. the evidence continues to mount. let us look at the glove. did he believe in providence? yes. did he believe in prayer? yes. did he believe in the clergy? yes. did he believe that christ was divine? did he believe in the word of god? every one of those, the glove does not fit, we must acquit. in fact, as we look at these statements, we see he builds fact after fact that shows this cannot be properly attributed to him. there is many objections, and i don't have time to address them

in our hour today, but if you go into the book, i extensively discussed these. they say his titles for god are deist. i actually looked at the great deist writings and at the great evangelical preachers of the day, and he uses the phrases of the great evangelical preachers of the day. they don't sound like us today, because this was the baroque era of theology, where you never would refer to deity in the same way in the next sentence. you would find another phrase to capture the unique facet of the glory of god. washington has over 90 different titles for god in his writings. thomas payne has in his "age of three reason." it truncates and diminishes god's glory. they say he never used the name of christ. there are several synonyms that washington used, like the ruler of the nations. he says to the indian chiefs, i want you to learn the religion of jesus christ because it will make you a better and happier people than you are.

one of the wales that he was learning to write as a young man included the writing of the name of jesus christ. he writes a beautiful christmas tell him -- he copies it -- that tells the entire story of christ and his incarnation on the crossed. this is incorrect, although it is often. said to be true he does use the name of christ. further, he was a mason. this is a picture of george washington being a mason. i have a whole chapter on that, but what i want you to hear is that washington was in a masonic group that called themselves christian masons. i am not here to debate whether masons are christians then, now, or tomorrow. i have not -- i'm not a mason, never been one, don't intend to join them. but when i was doing research on washington, i discovered that he collected sermons and he had a whole collection that he bound together in his library. it is in the boston atheneum. they are called masonic sermons. sermons that were regularly preached in the masonic order.

i looked into a couple of them and i was startled. one of my favorites -- the preacher, a great evangelical preacher, was preaching in a masonic home. and he says, i want to quote to you the bylaws of your masonic fraternity. it says "no stupid atheist or deist may be a member of our masonic order because we are christian masons." look, i did not call anyone stupid here. i am just quoting history. there is one that i particularly like. a man is preaching the gospel in a masonic home, right out of washington's library, and he said, some of you think you're going to get into heaven because you have been clothed with the robe of luther. he said, that won't get you to heaven. some of you think you will get to heaven because you have been clothed with the robe of calvin. that won't get you into heaven. many of you think you will get into heaven because you have robed or have-- warned the apron of a mason.

that won't get you into heaven. if you ever hope to stand before the lord of glory, you must be clothed with the righteousness of jesus christ received by faith. that is something i would preach in my pulpit. that was the kind of sermon that george washington read. that was in his masonic fraternity that called themselves christian masons. being a mason does not make you a christian. it does not make you a non-christian. but it is a non sequitur to say in that day if the man was a mason, he could not be a christian. he did take communion. i have come across three incidences of this. i don't have time to tell them to you. you often hear that he never took communion. a lady by the name of mrs. alexander hamilton -- have you ever heard of her? you know her husband. he is pretty famous. i think he is still on some of our american currency. she actually recorded with her family -- today, i had the privilege of kneeling and taking communion with the newly inaugurated president of the united states. that's just one example.

there are others. this is not true, he did take communion. he owned slaves. yes, tragic, but so did many others. did you know that george washington was the only slaveowning president who freed his slaves by his own initiative? everyone else who did, it happened by the civil war. if we had followed washington's repentance with regard to slavery through his life, there never would have been a civil war. because he determined to end it in his will and provide for them. even where we might most attack in today, his character shows us how people were addressing a moral failure in his own life and what i would say is a remarkably honorable way. the treaty with tripoli is often raised because it says that they write to the muslims -- we are not founded in anyway on the christian religion. two things i want to say. this did not come up under washington, it was john adams.

secondly, that clause cannot be found in the original treaty. and thirdly, none of us would claim we were founded on the bible anyway, if we are real americans. we did not start a christian republic. we started a republic that had a constitution that gave freedom for people of many different traditions, no religious test. this does not prove you are not a christian. i happen to be glad that i do not have to have a president that has to take a religious test to lead my country. i think it is a wonderful thing because we believe in a principled pluralism. yes, there may have been some less than ideal relationships. -- relationships in some letters we find as a young man. but i wonder how many sexual sinners have been forgiven and allowed into heaven. so let us suppose the worst might have happened. washington was a man of honor. this is a debated point. you have to read the chapter. this may be the most racy chapter in my book. you all have to go and get it, right? [laughter] dr. lillback: it is almost r-rated. do you know what r-rated was in the 1700s? you wrote a letter to someone you should not have.

that's what it was. another story for another day. some say he only used the bible in jest. i have found over 200 biblical allusions, quotes, citations. today i want to give you two that maybe you can take away. his favorite bible verse. uses it over 30 times. micah chapter four, verse four. every man will sit under his own vine and fig tree and there will be none to make them afraid. that was his name for mount vernon -- he wanted to go to his vine and fig tree. they never let him go, they made him a soldier, a politician, and a president though he wanted to go home. he said, i want america to be like this, that everyone can sit under their vine and figtree and no one will trouble you. he wrote to the jewish people and said this is what america will be for you. finally, fulfilling this dream. he actually uses the word millennium. two occasions. a place of peace where you will be able to sit under your vine and fig tree and there will be none to make you afraid.

that is that puritan eschatology. did you know what his great motto was? for my god and my country. and the second great motto was, "deeds and not words." do you know where we find that equivalent? look up 1 john 3:18. that is the simple statement of the new testament. that was his second great motto according to his daughter. he had a bad temper. and he might have sworn a few times. i hate to say it. i have seen some presbyterian elders that read the bible on sunday and then say nasty words on the golf course on another day. we do not make washington a perfect man. that is not our goal. we are not making him a saint. we are saying that as imperfect as he was, his christian faith is integral to his person. and his faith is based on the

story of parson weems. remember the cherry tree incident? true, his faith is based on his own writings. did you know that george washington knew parson weems? he wrote three or four letters to him. they were friends. george washington even endorsed one of his books. parson weems happened to be the pastor in the neighborhood where george washington grew up. oral history is never perfect. there is a lot of embellishment. you cannot throw it all out. especially when washington knew the man and they were on speaking terms. another example.

he fox hunted on sundays. i guess that means no one that watched the eagles win the super bowl is going to heaven. i discovered that he would travel to a foxhunting place on sunday but he waited until the next day to foxhunt. i have been able to say that he was more of a sunday keeper than we might have expected. he was not in church always on a sunday. but he helped to pay for the , heunion wine and organ helped pay for the preachers of his church even when the church was disestablished. he was committed to his church. when he got there, he had to ride nine miles to sit in an unheated church in virginia. sometimes for two hour worship services. i wonder how many of you would go to church if they said the heat was not working. every winter, multiple times, his churchgoing while he is president and general, he is

regularly involved in worship. it was part of his life. he did not attend church for political gain. there is a wonderful letter that he writes while he is in the british military defending the colonies against the french and indians. he writes back to the commanding officer in says, where are our chaplains? do you think we are so even we cannot he benefited by having a preacher of the gospel among us? he believed in worship. that was part of his life and character. when people say he did not pray at valley forge, i always like to say, george washington had nothing at valley forge except to pray. there is one recorded eyewitness account of george washington praying. again now, it is someone i quoted earlier. at this time her name was elizabeth scholer and she becomes mrs. alexander hamilton. her father was a general. she had access.

she said, i heard george washington pray passionately for his country. even the london chronicle. i think it was 1777. describing the enemy camps as , it is well-known that george washington has daily prayers in his tent for his men. even the enemy had to admit that in their newspapers. the last thing any enemy newspaper wants to do is build up the integrity of your enemy. did he pray at valley forge? this is the great scene. how about an eyewitness account? the first lutheran missionary to he becomes a preacher and ends up going off to fight. he becomes an officer at valley forge. this is written in the missionary's personal diary.

it was not written for anybody but his own record. notice what he says. as he came to visit his son at valley forge. this scene is only seven miles from my house. i walk there regularly to have a moment of prayer and to think of the history that occurred a few miles from where i live. i often do it in my tennis shoes in the snow. i haven't done in bare feet yet like the real guys. here is what he writes. "i heard a fine example today namely that his excellency, general washington, rode around his army yesterday and admonished them to fear god, to put away wickedness that has set in and become general and to practice christian virtues. from all appearances, he does not belong to the so-called world of society for he respects god's word, believes in the atonement through christ, and bears himself in humility and gentleness." who did he hear that from? from a lutheran minister who was a general in washington's army.

he is a believer in christ, i know him personally. this is not a deist. this is a man that was praying at valley forge. there were statements that he was a christian. how about this? "on my honor and faith as a christian, what i've written to you is true." private letters. in his farewell address, we remember how he says these words? he describes the divine author of our blessed religion. he includes himself in the religion of christianity. he is publicly testifying to his faith. his church activities. he was the equivalent of an elder in a presbyterian church. a church warden. he participated in communion. his family claimed he was a christian. his adopted granddaughter who

lived with him for a year said, "you may as well doubt his patriotism as to doubt his christianity." do you want to know who is the hardest person to fool that you are a christian? children that live in your house. they can smell hypocrisy a mile away. she says, he was a christian. i saw every day. if you want to say he was not a christian then say there should be no patriot named george washington. we cannot describe george washington without patriotism. i like to say, one of the things that demonstrates his christian character, that makes him one of the greatest men in history, and they were two things he did not do. he did not quit when all was lost at valley forge. there were people that were close to him in philadelphia. when congress had fled. they had no place to go. they were building their houses out of a log cabins without rations. the men were naked and barefoot and walking in the snow leaving bloodstains behind.

this is all documented. they were hungry. nearly starving. in the essay, washington, it is time to quit. you are the last one standing. maybe if you sue for peace, we can get out of this without being hung. washington did not quit. he said our cause is just. and god will stand on the side of justice. the reason there is a centennial state is because george washington did not quit at valley forge. he persevered. until the end. and you know -- newburgh, new york. i just spoke at west point at their prayer breakfast. it is just a few miles away. and the commanding officers to washington came around him and said, congress has not paid us for months. we have the guns, we won the war, history is on our side. it is time for you to become the

new king george. and we will be your nobility. guess what he did? he refused to become a king when all was won. he said, i did not fight a war with the king to become a king. he said the people will choose their leader. he refused to take the crown without fulfilling all that was necessary to do it the right way. can you think of any other human being who did not quit when all was lost? and who did not take the cheap way to be in charge of everything? i would suggest to you that is the very character that george washington said that america needs to follow if we are to be a happy nation. these are the qualities of jesus christ. his theology is filled with christian references. he knew the bible from cover to cover. over 200 quotes. i mentioned that he believed in a millennium that he hoped would

come sooner. his concern for the constitution we will talk about in a moment. how about this? these are now official orders he is giving to his army at valley forge. may 2, 1778. "while we are zealously performing the duties of good citizens and soldiers, we ought not to be inattentive to the higher duties of religion. to the distinguished character of patriot. it should be our highest glory to add the more distinguished character of christian." could you imagine a deist saying that? the most important thing you could possibly be is a christian, even more than a patriot, in my army? that would be the most foolish thing he could say. he could've said the same thing, and said it is so great you are standing for the freedom of thought, speech, society. what a great patriot. what a glorious cause. no one would have thought the worse.

but no, he said, i want you to think about how important it is to be a christian. this is a man preaching the gospel in the name of christ. our time is hastening. i must continue. why does it matter? first of all historians should , not print things that are patently false. if you find a historian that keeps telling you things that do not hold true to the facts, fire him, leave his class, get someone else to teach you. i'm being honest. the one thing no historian should be allowed to get away with is consistent, blatant inaccuracy. this is history. you don't have to believe anything washington said but you ought to know what he said and affirm it if it is true. i am not quoting scholars, i am quoting george washington. i went back to original sources and that is always the best

defense in history. don't listen to a teacher if you can listen to a historical teacher appeared listen to a teacher for sure, but do not miss the original source. historical revisionism is a reality. we need to realize that people are willingly changing the facts for an agenda. a great maxim i have heard as a historian, the living can make the dead do any tricks they find necessary. why is that? the dead cannot fight. you can make them say anything or do anything that you want and the only defense you have are the things that they wrote and the historical context and artifacts that they leave. we must put them in their context. this is critical for sheer scholarship. more than that, the culture wars, whatever stage or place you may think they are as we see progressive moving to secularism or even a hardened marxists or anti-christian spirit, i want to

say that we need to understand that the christian heritage that is part of your name here at colorado christian university has a place to stand on the founding era. christianity is not an interloper. christians helped create the public square. that is why it is important. further, for presidents, washington uses that phrase. he knew everything he did as president would establish a precedent for all who came after him. his freedom to be who he was as a believer and how he dealt with those that disagreed with his faith with charity in respect establishes a pattern that should be held to it today. it is appropriate for the man that has the seat of power to be a believer like washington who can also give great latitude to those that do not believe what he believes. that is the model washington

set. critical for every president that follows washington. further, worldview implication. ideas matter. the founding era created certain ideas of republican government. we need to know those ideas even if we disagree with them or want to change them. our world view must take them squarely on and engage them carefully. ideas matter. this is what washington was doing with his christian understanding. integrating christian conceptions of reality with his perspective on government and constitutional republic thinking. a role model for subsequent generations. all of us can find what it looks like to be a leader in the face of danger. and living like a christian. we all need heroes. washington is not a perfect man but let me tell you he is a giant sized hero for us to look at. i may make this a little dramatic. i fought this one a few times. get your religion out of my government.

the retort if you understand this is that washington said, religion belongs in government as well as irreligion. we all belong here. this is the freedom of conscience which washington fought for and defended. where we start determines where we end. it would make total sense in this is part of the historical revisionist argument, all of our founding fathers were deists and there is only a small step to secularism. all religions are irrelevant. where you start determines where you go next. let me tell you, we need to start with a christian founding. not perfectly and not totally but it is a reality. where we move from here is not all the way out there. that is abandoning the story. where we start determines where we end. justice. if in the next 50 years, history is written about colorado christian university and the

story is written about the says, he here and it claimed to be a presbyterian but he was a marxist atheist just pretending. when anyone rise up and say, it is not true? isn't it important for justice sake to honor someone's character and reputation? it helps balance public faith and religious liberty. the first amendment gives us these two great causes. congress will make no law respecting the establishment of religion or prohibiting the exercise thereof. both clauses along. washington gives us the example. he refused to push religious things on people through government but he exercises openly his own faith and encourages it for others. he is the living embodiment of what the first amendment was to become. exposure of censorship in its

various forms. if you have never heard anything i am saying, it is not because it is not there. historians have selectively excluded it, disregarded it, or suppressed it. all i am asking is whether we agree with washington or not is to rediscover it and let it be heard. i thought the hard left was against censorship. historians have been censoring this history for a long time. the clarification of the ideology behind the founding documents, the declaration in the constitution, by understanding washington's faith we can begin to understand further what they were wrestling with as they were creating the first document of freedom. and then the enabling laws and structure of government that they were working on in the constitution, which by the way washington presided over and discussed. not from the chair. but after hours. and you come to philadelphia on a tour with me, i will take you to the very place, the city

tavern, where washington went behind closed doors and said we have to solve the problem. tomorrow is the debate and we have to address the issue. it is a fun spot. the importance of this material has been demonstrated in the federal courts. i have had the chance to defend the 10 commandments plaques in the westchester courthouse in pennsylvania, which was won in the appellate court of the federal courts and one of the final arguments in its favor is that we must respect the history of our nation. the 10 commandments are part of our story in the in there for 80 years. we need to know our history because it preserves the things we cherish. it has relevance in so many ways. i simply want to say that washington is beginning to move towards the end of his career. saying his farewell address. listen to his words right out of this classic statement.

the only president unanimously elected as president twice. would you concur with me that that would never happen again? we can guarantee it never well. they wanted him a third time and he said two is enough. he writes, "of all of the habits that lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. in vain will men claim the tribute of patriotism who labored to subvert these great pillars of human happiness. these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens. the politician, equal with the pious man, ought to respect and cherish them." he concludes that national morality can only prevail if we have religious principle. we hear so much about the wall of separation between church and state. which by the way, i believe we need to have and i would be glad to discuss what i believe our founders meant by that.

it needs to be for the proper purpose. whoever talks about the indispensable supports, the firmest props of our constitution without which it will not survive. he said those props are religion and morality. we need to have them if we are going to have republican government. how does he say this? listen to the logic of our founders. if you want to be free, you need a republic. a republic creates freedom. if you have a republic, you need a constitution. if you want a constitution, you need a moral people who are willing to live by the constitution. how do you get a moral people? we need to have religious training because people do not do the right thing because it is the right thing. they are reminded of the eternal consequences and the duties and privileges of doing what is right through religious training. benjamin franklin, the great philadelphian, when he was leaving the constitutional convention was asked by a

chair, lady, he was in a carried by prisoners because he was too old and too worn out. a great genius of philadelphia who only went to second grade. he never patented any of his great inventors. some of you are using them right now as you are seated here. he said when she asks him, what kind of government have you given us mr. franklin? he said, a republic madam if you can keep it. he understood that a republican is not a guarantee. it is an extraordinary anomaly in human history. when it happens it is utterly precious and it is not going to sustain itself. john adams, the vice president under washington, the man who nominated washington to become the general of the army in the continental congress. he says we have no government armed with power capable of

contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. avarice, ambition, revenge or gallantry would break the strongest cords of our constitution as a whale goes through a net. our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. it is in adequate for the government of any other. those props and pillars. if we don't have them, our constitution will fail. washington and adams. how about this, benjamin rush. one of the greatest patriots, father of psychiatric medicine, abolitionist society, a great leader, and a signer of the declaration. this is what he wrote. "i lament that we waste so much time and money in punishing crimes and take so little pains to prevent them. we profess to be republicans and yet we neglect the only means of establishing and perpetuating our republican form of government. that is the universal education

of our youth and the principles of christianity by means of the bible. for this divine book, above all others, favors equality among mankind, respect for just laws and all of those sober and frugal virtues that constitute the soul of republicanism." that is founding ideology. the values of the scriptures will support the republic. as i wrap up, i am over time, but i am a presbyterian minister. we disregard the clock for eternity. forgive us. as i wrap up, i am moving towards the goal line. give me a couple extra minutes. washington sat down and wrote an extraordinary letter that was intended to go to the first congress. he was reluctantly elected unanimously to be the first president under the constitution. he is going there and trying to put his ideas together. it turned out to be something he did not send but it reflected

how he was trying to think about how government should work. constitution he had presided over as it was being framed. he argued for its ratification. he celebrated it when it was put into place. he is now elected. he is trying to think through what does the constitution mean for the country? i'm going to give you first his words and then i have to translate them. because i hate to say that his english is a little over the head of most college students even though he only went to eighth grade. that shows us how we struggle with english. this is the truth. here is what he says. "i pretend to no unusual turity andinto fu therefore cannot undertake to decide with certainty what may

be its ultimate fate." talking about the constitution. washington was not a prophet. he could not make a final prediction about the ultimate fate of the constitution. he said i cannot tell how long it will last. i cannot predict. he says if a promised good should terminate in an unexpected evil, it would be a solitary example of disappointment. in our uncertain world, good things have often ended up as disappointing evils and this could happen with our constitution also. what else is he saying? "if the blessings of heaven showered thick around us should be spilled on the ground and converted to curses through the m they wereose who intended, it would not be the first instance of folly in shortsighted mortals." into english. if we lose our constitution's blessings of liberty it would not be the first time that human foolishness has squandered the blessings of heaven. these are quite religious words, aren't they for the first president?

"the blessed religion revealed in the word of god will remain an eternal and awful monument to prove that the best institutions may be abused by human depravity and they may even in some instances may be made subservient to the vilest of purposes." let us translate. the word of god's revelation of the christian religion provides an eternal example of the fact that the best human organizations can be used for evil ends. what is he referring to? i would argue that he is referring to jesus being condemned by the law court of israel that was established to preserve the justice of god. he is condemned unjustly. that could happen to our own constitution. this is where it really gets interesting. i would suggest it almost sounds like our current political milieu. "should hereafter those who are entrusted with the management of this government, incited by the lust of power, and prompted by

lity ofealogy -- venia their constituents overly the known barriers of this constitution and violate the inalienable rights of humanity, that is just the warming up of the sentence." more to come. let us translate. america's future power-hungry leaders could get away with the disregard of the constitution's limitations and harm our inalienable rights because of voters have become lazy or selfish. washington is saying, do you know what the checks and balances are? the voters. that know what the constitution is about. they alone can preserve this republican form of government and our constitution. he says it will only serve to show that no compact among men however profited in its construction and sacred in ratification can be pronounced everlasting and inviolable. translate. no mere human document is

eternal and indestructible even if it began with god's favor and was declared to be holy. washington is saying to every one of us, he was more of a profit than he thought he was, he is saying, the constitution is hanging by a thread because there are power-hungry leaders, lazy, selfish voters. notice what it brings it to. and if i may so express myself, that no wall of words, no amount of parchment can be so formed to stand against the sweeping torrent of boundless ambition on one side aided by the sapping current of corrupted morals on the other. translation. no words on a piece of paper can withstand unbridled political ambition that remains unchecked due to an immoral electorate. they are only words on a paper.

they become powerful. when there are people of principal and say who say, we are going to live by these and train people to live by these. you know what? that is why washington's faith matters. his faith is essentially the faith that undergirds every christian institution of higher learning. we believe that what we do matters forever. the promises we make are significant. we should love our neighbor with justice. these are the principles that brought about our constitution. does political prosperity matter to you? washington said, we are not going to have it without religious principle. we need these indispensable supports. washington finally, in his very first inaugural address said at the end, "having honored the almighty being, the propitious

smiles of heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right which heaven itself has ordained." what are eternal rules of order and right? we call those the 10 commandments.